ticketsMember | Make a donation

Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)

late 6th–5th century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 152
Translucent cobalt blue, with handles in same color; trail in opaque white.
Inward-sloping rim-disk, with radiating tooling marks on upper surface; cylindrical neck, tapering downwards; small rounded shoulder; straight-sided cylindrical body, tapering upwards; convex bottom; two vertical ring handles with knobbed tails, applied over trail decoration, one higher than the other.
A thick white trail applied on neck, wound down across shoulder one and a half times, then tooled into an inverted close-set festoon pattern, with nine downward strokes.
Complete, except for chips in rim and one small hole in upper body; a trail probably decorated the edge of the rim-disk but this is now completely missing, leaving a weathered beveled edge; dulling, pitting, and iridescent milky weathering.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
  • Period: Classical
  • Date: late 6th–5th century BCE
  • Culture: Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
  • Medium: Glass; core-formed, Group I
  • Dimensions: H. 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
  • Classification: Glass
  • Credit Line: Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1881
  • Object Number: 81.10.304
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Terracotta alabastron (perfume vase) in the form of a woman holding a dove, Terracotta, East Greek
Terracotta alabastron (perfume vase) in the form of a woman holding a dove
East Greek
mid-6th century BCE
Glass oinochoe, Glass, Greek
Glass oinochoe
Greek
mid-4th–early 3rd century BCE
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle), Glass, Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
2nd–mid-1st century BCE
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle), Glass, Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
5th century BCE
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle), Glass, Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
Glass alabastron (perfume bottle)
Greek, Eastern Mediterranean
late 4th–early 3rd century BCE

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.